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The Milky Way – Structure and Origin

In the Southern Hemisphere, the Magellanic Clouds, or the galaxy’s satellite galaxies (revolves around Milky Way), are visible. The Magellanic Clouds are named for the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, the first circumnavigator of the world. Because of interstellar dust (rocky planets and other material), we can only see 6,000 stars, but the Milky Way has 100 billion stars total. The farthest are 4,000 light years away. Earth’s atmosphere smears the sky, so stars appear to twinkle. About 10^6 stars— old as the universe— inhabit In globular clusters (~200 in Milky Way’s halo).

All pictures of the Milky Way are artists’ conceptions because no telescope can travel high enough (billions of light years) to capture the entire galaxy.

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Astronomy: To Infinity and Beyond! Welcome to "The Cosmos." I will take you on a journey through our solar system, galaxy, and the Universe! You will be updated with current events in astronomy. Please click on the picture above to visit my blog on poetry, writings, and musings!

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References for photos used from websites can be found under the "References" page. Photo credit: news sites (reference included in post), NASA (most images used), and Google (for artists' view of objects unable to be photographed).